Picture this with me. You are standing in a group of Christians and you are all having a time of intercession. The lights may or may not be dimmed and people are mumbling out loud or making that weird gasping noise with their voices that they always do when they pray.
If this is you, please stand up....(standing)
I was praying the other day and I stopped to listened to myself and the above words are pretty much what I heard. I heard the word 'just', 'pray', and 'Father' more than any other word. And the tone of my voice!? I felt like I was whispering out agonies from my lips!
I don't know if this disturbs you, but it disturbs me deeply. Why does it seem that prayer is no longer a communication with God but a ritualistic, emotional experience? I don't know what else to call the seemingly pointless change in my voice and dialect.
I can hear you saying already, 'It is because I am talking to my LORD and savior. I am in a condition of reverence and humility.' Okay - let's examine this. Did Jesus do this? When in Jesus' ministry did his dialect change when he was talking to God? (NOTE: When I use the word dialect, I don't necessarily mean the slang or terminology, but rather the frequency of words used and the habitual manner in which we speak that may or may not align properly with the current state of affairs.)
I can find no evidence of such a change in Jesus. In fact, once I opened my Bible, I found this verse: "When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do." (Matthew 6). This passage is quickly followed by the 'Our Father' or 'The Lord's Prayer.'
By the way, have you ever compared your prayers to the prayers of Jesus? Do you notice how short they are!? I know that my prayers are considerable longer (windbag) and more emotional (makes me vomit in my mouth). If you really want to add on to that challenge, start looking at the prayers of our founding fathers!! They blow us out of the water.
HU is currently on this 'all about me songs' but I wonder how many people look at 'all about me' prayers. Can your prayer be for others, but be driven and empowered by yourself? I would say yes.
Now...in honor of my prayer (and all those who will admit their problems with this), you an at least say it may be heartfelt (or it is habitual). I think this is something that is worth some serious thought. I may be the only one...but I doubt it. Do you communicate with God in a manner that speaks of habitual phrases or honest communication? I think our prayer should be more professional, concise, and less emotionally driven. Why does humility and reverence have to result in us babbling and sounding like an emotional wreck? I have recently fallen in love with writing our my prayers and just reciting already written prayers. It eliminates so many different problems that I addressed.
Just my thoughts...
Wouldn't having a relationship with God be sort of like a relationship with a friend? I mean, I realize that He's more great than anyone can imagine, but if our prayers are "professional," they might be cold and not genuine sounding therefore defeating any emotional output which is required in a close relationship...from my point of view.
ReplyDeletei'm forced to stand as well. I actually did think about this this morning in prayer, as i was praying, and all my intercessions for different things sounded the same. kind of like your template, maybe with a sigh or two added in there for effect. a lot of times i find myself at a loss for how to pray, so i fall into this pattern, which is familiar. i think you're right about us forcing emotions into our prayers unnecessarily. i think we do this to try and make it more real to us. when God seems distant, we try to evoke our own emotions so maybe it'll feel like the Holy Spirit is moving in us. i do think emotions belong in prayer and in our relationship with God at times, but i think you're spot on in your observations. thanks.
ReplyDeleteWell Tiff (PS I am glad you read this...really glad),
ReplyDeleteI may not have conveyed my purpose well. I guess what I meant to convey was the idea that what we are doing now is habitual, and having a more focused, REAL conversation with God would be better. I don't talk to you the way I talk to God (minus the obvious differences). My tone of voice and general word usage is different.
I will have to give this more thought, but I also have this to share:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little and didn't know how to pray (i.e. ask God for help, thank God for His love and praise Him) my mom said, "Talk to God as if He were sitting beside you listening intently and wanting to know what's on your mind." This has helped me a TON! And I also write my prayers as if I were writing to him. Sometimes I'm emotional, sometimes I'm not. He made us emotional, so why hide it? He knows everything anyways. He just wants us to ask. I find that writing it is useful in looking back because you can SEE the growth, the answers you were given, etc. etc. etc. I made a habit of buying a ton of composition books and different colored pens. I write my prayers in one color and leave a page or two blank for when I look back at them (whenever I find the old journal or have time to flip through). I then write God's answer or my thoughts (mostly both) in a different color. It's a really cool thing because sometimes what WE want is not what HE wants. And it's always BETTER! I'll get back to you with more thoughts... I need to digest your observations first... they are good, but I need quiet time to actually think about them. :D
I agree a lot about the writing of my prayers, I love to write to God and pour my heart out for those my heart is burdened for. I also have to "stand up" and along with Ben was thinking about this very subject during prayer Friday morning. I stopped and listened to everyone praying... it was really cool the first time I listened. Then the next time I stopped at a loss for words- hoping to hear the awesomeness that was the first time, and i was amazed at how everyone seemed to be following such a pattern, that which is typical of our "normal prayer" times, and it threw me back. I also thought about this last sunday at prayer... I guess you could say this has come to mind a lot lately, its nice to know I'm not the only one thinking this way, thanks for posting your thoughts...
ReplyDelete(this is Amber by the way)